BILL NUMBER: SB 215	CHAPTERED  06/08/00

	CHAPTER   32
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   JUNE 8, 2000
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   JUNE 8, 2000
	PASSED THE SENATE   MAY 30, 2000
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   MAY 25, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 23, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MARCH 2, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   JANUARY 14, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MAY 28, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Senators Karnette and Dunn
   (Principal coauthor:  Senator Johannessen)
   (Principal coauthors:  Assembly Members Lowenthal and McClintock)
   (Coauthors:  Senators Costa, Kelley, Monteith, Morrow, Murray,
Rainey, and Speier)
   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Alquist, Ashburn, Baldwin, Bates,
Baugh, Campbell, Correa, Davis, Dutra, Firebaugh, Havice, House,
Leach, Longville, Maldonado, Margett, Nakano, Oller, Pescetti, Scott,
Soto, Strom-Martin, Torlakson, and Zettel)

                        JANUARY 21, 1999

   An act to amend Section 6263 of, to add Sections 6909 and 6910 to,
and to repeal Sections 6261 and 6262 of, the Revenue and Taxation
Code, relating to vehicles, making an appropriation therefor, and
declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 215, Karnette.  Vehicles:  smog impact fee:  refunds.
   Existing law imposes a smog impact fee of $300 on a person making
application to register a motor vehicle in this state that was
previously registered outside this state, with certain exceptions.
However, in the case of Jordan v. D.M.V. (1999) 75 Cal.App.4th 449,
the court ruled that the imposition of this fee is unconstitutional.

   This bill would repeal the provisions imposing the smog impact fee
and would make a related change.
   The bill would transfer $665,261,000 from the General Fund to the
Smog Impact Fee Refund Account in the State Transportation Fund,
which would be created by this bill as a continuously appropriated
account in the Special Deposit Fund, for the purpose of funding
refunds of the smog impact fee and for certain other purposes.  By so
establishing this account, this bill would make an appropriation.
   The bill would become operative only if AB 809 is enacted and
becomes operative, as specified.
   The bill would declare that it is to become effective immediately
as an urgency statute.
   Appropriation:  yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Chapter 3.3 (commencing with Section 6261) of Part 1 of
Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code imposes a three hundred
dollar ($300) smog impact fee on used motor vehicles that were last
registered outside of this state and are not certified to meet the
state's vehicle emission control requirements.  The fee is due upon
the initial registration of the vehicle in this state.
   (b) The smog impact fee has been collected by the Department of
Motor Vehicles on behalf of the state since October 1990, during
which time approximately 1,700,000 vehicle owners have paid the fee
resulting in a total amount of approximately five hundred million
dollars ($500,000,000).
   (c) Lawsuits challenging the imposition of the smog impact fee
were the subject in the case of Jordan v. Department of Motor
Vehicles (1999) 75 Cal.App.4th 449, in which the court ruled that
imposition of the smog impact fee is unconstitutional and ordered the
state to refund the fees to the plaintiffs.
   (d) The Governor, in November 1999, announced that the state would
not appeal the decision of the court in the case cited under
subdivision (c) and that the state would refund the smog impact fee,
plus interest, to all persons who have paid the fee.  The Governor
also instructed the Department of Motor Vehicles to stop collecting
the fee and made provision in the proposed 2000-01 Budget Act for
legislation appropriating funds to pay the smog impact fee refunds
with interest.
   (e) The Legislature, through enactment of this act and its
companion measure, Assembly Bill 809, intends to do all of the
following:
   (1) Repeal existing provisions of law that establish and impose
the smog impact fee.
   (2) Require the Department of Motor Vehicles to search its records
and promptly identify those persons who were, at the time the
application for registration was completed, the registered owner or
lessee of the vehicle and who are eligible for a refund of the smog
impact fee.
   (3) Notify all eligible recipients of the pending refunds and
provide a simplified verification and claims procedure for those
refunds.
   (4) Promptly provide payment of the smog impact fee refunds to
eligible persons, including the three hundred dollar ($300) fee, any
penalty fee collected for late payment of the smog impact fee, and
interest earned on those charges.
   (5) Appropriate the full amount of funds necessary to refund the
smog impact fee, any penalty fee collected for late payment of the
smog impact fee, and any interest due to those who paid the fee.
  SEC. 2.  Section 6261 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is repealed.

  SEC. 3.  Section 6262 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is repealed.

  SEC. 4.  Section 6263 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is amended
to read:
   6263.  No person, other than the manufacturer who has received
authorization to sell the motor vehicle in California or a person
authorized by the manufacturer, shall install a vehicle emission
control label on any motor vehicle.  No person shall remove, alter,
deface, obscure, or destroy a vehicle emission control label or any
label required to be affixed to any motor vehicle certified pursuant
to the National Emissions Standards Act (42 U.S.C.  Sec. 7521 et
seq., and Subpart A (commencing with Sec. 86.078-3) of Part 86 of
Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations).  Any person who
violates any provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and
is subject to a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000)
or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or
both that fine and imprisonment.
  SEC. 5.  Section 6909 is added to the Revenue and Taxation Code, to
read:
   6909.  (a) The Controller shall transfer the amount of six hundred
sixty-five million two hundred sixty-one thousand dollars
($665,261,000) from the General Fund to the Smog Impact Fee Refund
Account, which is hereby created in the Special Deposit Fund.
   (b) Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, the
moneys in the Smog Impact Fee Refund Account in the Special Deposit
Fund are hereby continuously appropriated, without regard to fiscal
years, to the Department of Motor Vehicles for the purpose of making
refunds to persons who paid the smog impact fee formerly required by
Chapter 3.3 (commencing with Section 6261) upon registering a vehicle
in California.  Each refund shall also include the amount of any
penalties incurred by the payer with respect to the fee, and shall
also include interest as specified in Sections 1673.2 and 1673.4 of
the Vehicle Code.  In addition, the appropriate level of court costs,
fees, and expenses in the settlement of the case of Jordan v.
Department of Motor Vehicles (1999) 75 Cal.App.4th 449, shall be
determined through binding arbitration, and all of those fees, costs,
or expenses shall be paid with funds from the account.
   (c) The amount of any refund made under Section 1673.2 or Section
1673.4 of the Vehicle Code that is returned to the Department of
Motor Vehicles because the recipient's mailing address as shown by
the records of the department is incorrect shall be retained in the
Smog Impact Fee Refund Account in the Special Deposit Fund until
either of the following occurs:
   (1) The department is able to ascertain the correct address of the
recipient, at which time the refund shall be mailed to that address.

   (2) The date upon which those funds are transferred from the Smog
Impact Fee Refund Account in the Special Deposit Fund back to the
General Fund.
   (d) Any unencumbered balance remaining in the account on or after
June 30, 2004, shall revert to the General Fund.
   (e) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the amount
appropriated under subdivision (b) is a refund of taxes, as described
in subdivision (a) of Section 8 of Article XIII of the Constitution,
and, as a result, is not included within the "appropriations subject
to limitation" of the state, as defined in that subdivision (a).
  SEC. 6.  (a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that a
portion of the revenue generated by imposition of the smog impact fee
was deposited in the High Polluter Repair or Removal Account in the
Vehicle Inspection and Repair Fund.
   (b) Accordingly, it is the intent of the Legislature that any
unused funds remaining in that account, after the Legislature has
determined that all goals and objectives of the programs funded from
that account have been achieved, be transferred to the General Fund.

  SEC. 7.  This act shall become operative only if Assembly Bill 809
of the 1999-2000 Regular Session is enacted and becomes operative and
provides for a program to make refunds of the smog impact fee
enacted under Chapter 3.3 (commencing with Section 6261) of Part 1 of
Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code.
  SEC. 8.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect.  The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to provide, at the earliest possible time, a refund to
the public of the smog impact fee, it is necessary that this act take
effect immediately.
